P2P and the Economic Downturn: Hello, Browser Toolbars!

Commercial P2P, we hardly knew ye: The recent shake-up at BitTorrent Inc., which consisted of replacing its CEO, losing its president and firing half of its workforce, has fueled speculation that P2P as a B2C business model is dead. Mashable writer Paul Glazowski mused the other day that, “[T]he legit, utopian vision of paid-for P2P downloads is headed for a depression,” while the typically upbeat P2P news site Slyck.com contended that “things could get dicey” for BitTorrent and other, similar startups.

Actually, things already have, at least in terms of the number of people that have been laid off. BitTorrent went to 18 employees from 55 in just four months, and Vuze recently confirmed two rounds of cuts totaling 24 people. P2P advertising startup Skyrider closed shop completely in October, and file-sharing dinosaur Morpheus quietly faded away earlier this year. Still, there is hope on the horizon for P2P startups — if they’re willing to annoy their user base, that is. Continue reading on Newteevee.com.